A "Fool" Print

It was my ever-first attempt to do a full tri. In the past, i had been doing relay for the cycling leg. If not for friend's encouragement, i couldn't have taken up the courage to challenge my greatest fear - so called sea swim. I always have phobia in sea swim and imagining that i might be drowning in the vast sea. Added to that, i did not do much long distance swim until 2 weeks before when I swam 30 laps in the pool 3 times a week. Certainly, the swim I did one week before at Sentosa bumped me with more confidence to handle the sea.

To start off the race, we had a wonderful weather with no sun and a cool wind welcoming us. The sea was clam and having an extremely low tide. In fact, Uncle Chan commented this year PD Tri was unique. We had a Run-Swim-Run-Bike-Run event instead of the normal Tri. I remembered the advices given by Senior Melvin, Chua, Henry and the rest, which i should keep to the right so as not to overrun by other good swimmers. I ran about 50m before dived into the water, using my breast stroke to swim. After swam for about 30m, i still couldn't get into the rhythm and my breathing was not smooth. For a few moments, thought of swimming back to the shore and giving up flashed into my mind. I later remembered my friends' advices to relax, swim slow and take it easy. The thought of giving up was just too unbearable in my mind. If i gave up now, it could be even harder for me to try on for the next time. I swam slow continuously. noticed the swimmers around me and carefully moved on so not to be overran by others. I am making progress although it was slow. Gradually, i felt the confidence in me coming back. The panic and the fear was submerged by my mind focusing in my stroke and breathing technique. Also, since the swim was held in the lagoon, i felt relatively safe from the watching eyes of the spectators. Finally, I took 44:48mins to reach the shore but still feeling strong.

The bike leg was no problem to me. This was the first time i used the Ceepo for race. Initially, i was unmotivated since i was the few last that came out from the swim leg. Nevertheless, after overtaking one after another, my drive and competitiveness took better of me. Makoto from Next Stage had did a wonderful job of tuning my bike. I felt the shifting was much smoother than before and the speed was faster than my usual ride. I loved my Ceepo Venom. It was a fantastic experience riding on it. The bike was stiff and responsive, and effortless in climbing the hill. In the end, my ride took 1:16hr to complete.

For the running portion, i took it slow in the beginning to avoid any cramp. Surprisingly, my legs didn't give me problem usually that came from the Powerman or Dualathon. I did a 6mins pace and made a few stop or walk here and there. The route led us to a the main road, where we turn towards the beach. I loved the feeling of my feet landed on the sand, which felt more like a massage. Subsequently, we crossed over a wooden bridge, and made a U-Turn and back to the road again. It was near to 10am, and the weather was getting hot. Still, I am able to keep on to the pace and reached the finishing line by 0:53mins. Weird, was that i felt the distance i covered for the run was less than 10km. With my pace, I would expect to exceed an hour. Later, i found out the distance coverage was short of 1km or 1.5km.

For the overall results, i took 2:58 to finish the whole race. I was happy with the results and did better than i expected.